Future Origins is advancing the commercialization of its palm oil alternative NALO, a bioengineered C12/C14 fatty alcohol designed for use in personal care and cleaning formulations. The company recently announced a multi-year purchase agreement with Kao Corporation, marking the largest commercial agreement for NALO to date.
“NALO performs just like traditional palm-derived fatty alcohols for several applications, providing the same benefits and cleaning capabilities and in some ways even better,” Priti Pharkya, Senior Vice President, Business Operations at Future Origins, told CosmeticsDesign. The ingredient has been independently tested and validated for performance in surfactant-based applications.
According to the company’s press release, “NALO is the world’s first high-performing, drop-in replacement for widely used ingredients that have traditionally been made from palm oil.”
Sustainability-driven and regulation-ready
With increasing regulatory scrutiny on palm oil and deforestation, NALO is designed to align with emerging global compliance needs. “We have always been centered around the benefits of no deforestation, no palm, and a lower carbon footprint, which allows companies to meet global compliance needs and future-proof their ingredient sources,” said Pharkya.
She added that the ingredient’s appeal goes beyond regulatory checkboxes, addressing the issue of supply chain disruption as well, which has “made us realize that the solution we propose through NALO is more of a must-have rather than a nice-to-have.”
US manufacturing investment to strengthen supply chain resilience
The company plans to manufacture NALO at an industrial scale in the United States, with a focus on the Midwest. The region is the ideal location for production, said Pharkya, as it affords access to “large volumes of high-quality, low-cost feedstocks that are required for production,” and is also centrally located for efficient national distribution.
According to the press release, “The agreement with Kao secures offtake for a majority of the planned capacity of Future Origins’ first manufacturing plant.” This investment supports Kao’s Mid-Term Plan 2027 and its broader sustainability goals.
NALO’s production uses plant-derived sugars through fermentation, allowing for a more sustainable process, which Future Origins maintains will “lead to lower carbon emissions compared to traditional palm oil production…because NALO can be made with renewable, locally sourced feedstocks, the carbon footprint is further reduced,” she said.
Accelerating market adoption through strategic industry backing
Future Origins is leveraging its partnership with major global brands to speed adoption. “Each partner brings its own unique brands and market influence, which will also help drive the demand for more sustainable, deforestation-free ingredients,” said Pharkya.
Importantly, NALO is designed as a drop-in ingredient, minimizing disruption to existing product development pipelines. “The production of drop-in substitutes using the Geno technology ensures that the companies using the product don’t have to change their existing processes,” she shared.
Looking ahead: Scaling bio-based ingredients for the long term
Demonstration-scale fermentation is currently underway, with several tons of NALO expected to be available for sampling by the second quarter of 2025. “We look forward to meeting the needs of Kao and the broader marketplace with this low-carbon, deforestation-free material,” Pharkya said in Future Origins’ press release.
She concluded with her belief that the momentum will continue building: “We have already developed a very consistent, on-purpose chemical-grade product… I believe bio-based solutions like NALO are here to stay and will be integrated into even more products in the future.”